The pandemic was tough on all of us, but it was especially “ruff” on your dog. A new survey shows that a whopping 36 percent of pups gained weight during quarantine. (And you thought the Quarantine 15 was only for humans! Ha!)
The difference, however, is that we only have ourselves to blame for our newly hefty guts while dogs just wolf down whatever they’re given. Eating when food is offered is a survival mechanism for them. They literally can’t help but gobble down whatever’s in front of them. So all of us dog owners should feel awful that we fattened up our four-legged friends.
Smart dog technology company Fi and Pumpkin Pet Insurance teamed up to quiz over 1,000 dog owners. What they found is that 45 percent of them were slipping their pooches extra treats; another 41 percent confessed to sharing scraps from the table with their fur baby. If misery loves company, weight gain does even more so, as the majority (56 percent) of pet owners gained weight along with their animal companions.
“We have definitely noticed a trend of weight gain during the pandemic,” Dr. Ashleigh Bruno, a vet at West Orange Animal Hospital, said in a statement. “Food is love for a lot of pet owners (myself included). It’s easy to give a piece of table scraps or an extra treat throughout the day – especially when people have been working from home with their pets by their side.”
The bummer is that the weight gain occurred despite both humans and dogs getting extra exercise during the pandemic. Even though 66 percent of pet owners said they became more active right in step with Fido, the activity couldn’t make a dent in the bad dietary habits.
Where do we go from here? On a walk – a long, uphill one. Your canine was your partner in weight-gaining crime and now it’s going to be your weight-loss buddy.
Cover Photo: Ирина Мещерякова (Getty Images)
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